In the world of gloom, in the world of dehumanizing hopelessness, in the mind-wrenching agony, where victims are seen less than humans, how convenient can the tents of homeless people be, compared to a home?
Creature Comfort
The housed may not know it, but once there’s no home, it’s a whole new world, a whole new perspective. Funny as it may seem, usually, people experiencing homelessness have nowhere to bathe, nowhere to poop and hardly anywhere to get water. If you’re housed, imagine that you woke up in the morning and you feel like defecating but you just can’t because your toilet disappeared. And, there are no available restrooms to pass out your excrement. It seems horrible I believe. This should start to give an idea about how convenient homeless tents are already.
In other words, homeless people do have access to creature comforts such as electricity, water, en suite amenities, permanent addresses et cetera. Permanent addresses are needed to get jobs and without them getting jobs are more difficult. Little wonder most homeless people are unemployed.
Security of Homeless People from People and Nature
Now let’s talk about security. The tents have no security compared to homes. Homeless women have been reportedly raped in their tents, and they normally don’t report these cases or other crimes because they’re not taken seriously. Yes, it’s the social stigma. Young homeless girls are also exposed to the same reality, including sex for survival. As for men, they aren’t free, as they’re exposed to all types of assaults, including fatal ones. It’s a psychological fact that homelessness in itself attracts abusive attacks, as vermins seek to prey on the unhoused.
Read: Should We Be Kind or Unkind to Homeless People
Further, homeless tents get easily vandalized and burgled. Even in government shelters, there’s still no peace, as such parks can be rowdy. There’s theft there, and violence also occur among the homeless there. A homeless American woman, interviewed by Invisible People, says she was beaten up in the government shelters. Also, she confirms that there’s theft in them.
Given the foregoing, it’s little wonder that stats and reports show that, across the world, homeless people are way more likely to become victims of violent crimes and exploitations, than their average counterparts.
And then there’s the climatic perspective, where the tents of homeless people can’t protect them from harsh climatic conditions. Depending on where these tents are placed, the storm can blow them off, or destroy them. Rainy water can penetrate them. They don’t protect from the heat of the Sun, nor from the cold of the Winter. Let’s not talk about the effects of the snow in some parts of the world.
Lastly here, some homeless people usually convey their tent and belongings from one location to another, due to many different including evictions and security. This is anything but convenient and living in the streets is not a plight to be wished on an enemy.
Read: Challenges of Homeless People
The Discomfort
All the foregoing are discomforting, but let’s talk about the literal discomfort of the tent. There’s no proper bed, as you’d already know. Live within the tent is usually claustrophobic. Victims sleep, sit and move within one spot. And, some people without housing have complained about bugs, which make life for people without accommodation hellish.
Conclusion
Homeless people’s tents or living outside is not convenient and can’t be compared to a home, or living in one. The loss of homes is usually blamed on the victims, but this is not always correct. This homeless advisory and this article is meant to create awareness on the adverse conditions of homelessness. A lot of houseless people are victims of circumstances and need human help.
